TY - JOUR

T1 - Geodynamics, seismicity, and seismic hazards of the Caucasus

AU - Ismail-Zadeh, Alik

AU - Adamia, Shota

AU - Chabukiani, Aleksandre

AU - Chelidze, Tamaz

AU - Cloetingh, Sierd

AU - Floyd, Michael

AU - Gorshkov, Alexander

AU - Gvishiani, Alexei

AU - Ismail-Zadeh, Tahir

AU - Kaban, Mikhail K.

AU - Kadirov, Fakhraddin

AU - Karapetyan, Jon

AU - Kangarli, Talat

AU - Kiria, Jemal

AU - Koulakov, Ivan

AU - Mosar, Jon

AU - Mumladze, Tea

AU - Müller, Birgit

AU - Sadradze, Nino

AU - Safarov, Rafig

AU - Schilling, Frank

AU - Soloviev, Alexander

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Elsevier B.V. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2020/8/1

Y1 - 2020/8/1

N2 - Being a part of ongoing continental collision between the Arabian and Eurasian plates, the Caucasus region is a remarkable site of moderate to strong seismicity, where devastating earthquakes caused significant losses of lives and livelihood. In this article, we survey geology and geodynamics of the Caucasus and its surroundings; magmatism and heat flow; active tectonics and tectonic stresses caused by the collision and shortening; gravity and density models; and overview recent geodetic studies related to regional movements. The tectonic development of the Caucasus region in the Mesozoic-Cenozoic times as well as the underlying dynamics controlling its development are complicated processes. It is clear that the collision is responsible for a topographic uplift / inversion and for the formation of the fold-and-thrust belts of the Greater and Lesser Caucasus. Tectonic deformations in the region is influenced by the wedge-shaped rigid Arabian block indenting into the relatively mobile region and producing near N-S compressional stress and seismicity in the Caucasus. Regional seismicity is analysed with an attention to sub-crustal seismicity under the northern foothills of the Greater Caucasus, which origin is unclear – whether the seismicity associated with a descending oceanic crust or thinned continental crust. Recent seismic tomography studies are in favour of the detachment of a lithospheric root beneath the Lesser and Greater Caucasus. The knowledge of geodynamics, seismicity, and stress regime in the Caucasus region assists in an assessment of seismic hazard and risk. We look finally at existing gaps in the current knowledge and identify the problems, which may improve our understanding of the regional evolution, active tectonics, geodynamics, shallow and deeper seismicity, and surface manifestations of the lithosphere dynamics. Among the gaps are those related to uncertainties in regional geodynamic and tectonic evolution (e.g., continental collision and associated shortening and exhumation, lithosphere structure, deformation and strain-stress partitioning) and to the lack of comprehensive datasets (e.g., regional seismic catalogues, seismic, gravity and geodetic surveys).

AB - Being a part of ongoing continental collision between the Arabian and Eurasian plates, the Caucasus region is a remarkable site of moderate to strong seismicity, where devastating earthquakes caused significant losses of lives and livelihood. In this article, we survey geology and geodynamics of the Caucasus and its surroundings; magmatism and heat flow; active tectonics and tectonic stresses caused by the collision and shortening; gravity and density models; and overview recent geodetic studies related to regional movements. The tectonic development of the Caucasus region in the Mesozoic-Cenozoic times as well as the underlying dynamics controlling its development are complicated processes. It is clear that the collision is responsible for a topographic uplift / inversion and for the formation of the fold-and-thrust belts of the Greater and Lesser Caucasus. Tectonic deformations in the region is influenced by the wedge-shaped rigid Arabian block indenting into the relatively mobile region and producing near N-S compressional stress and seismicity in the Caucasus. Regional seismicity is analysed with an attention to sub-crustal seismicity under the northern foothills of the Greater Caucasus, which origin is unclear – whether the seismicity associated with a descending oceanic crust or thinned continental crust. Recent seismic tomography studies are in favour of the detachment of a lithospheric root beneath the Lesser and Greater Caucasus. The knowledge of geodynamics, seismicity, and stress regime in the Caucasus region assists in an assessment of seismic hazard and risk. We look finally at existing gaps in the current knowledge and identify the problems, which may improve our understanding of the regional evolution, active tectonics, geodynamics, shallow and deeper seismicity, and surface manifestations of the lithosphere dynamics. Among the gaps are those related to uncertainties in regional geodynamic and tectonic evolution (e.g., continental collision and associated shortening and exhumation, lithosphere structure, deformation and strain-stress partitioning) and to the lack of comprehensive datasets (e.g., regional seismic catalogues, seismic, gravity and geodetic surveys).

KW - Deformation

KW - Density

KW - Geodesy

KW - Geological evolution

KW - Gravity

KW - Greater and Lesser Caucasus

KW - Seismic tomography

KW - Tectonic stresses

KW - LESSER CAUCASUS

KW - PRESENT-DAY KINEMATICS

KW - SOUTH CASPIAN BASIN

KW - ACTIVE TECTONICS

KW - EASTERN BLACK-SEA

KW - WESTERN GREATER CAUCASUS

KW - CRUSTAL SHORTENING BUDGETS

KW - FISSION-TRACK DATA

KW - ARABIA-EURASIA COLLISION

KW - TECTONIC EVOLUTION

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85086381065&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103222

DO - 10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103222

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:85086381065

VL - 207

JO - Earth-Science Reviews

JF - Earth-Science Reviews

SN - 0012-8252

M1 - 103222

ER -